Electronic computing devices have become increasingly important to data computation, analysis and storage in our modern society. Modern direct access storage devices (DASDs), such as hard disk drives (HDDs), are heavily relied on to store mass quantities of data for purposes of future retrieval. As such long term data storage has become increasingly popular, and as the speed of microprocessors has steadily increased over time, the need for HDDs with greater storage capacity to store the increased amount of data has also steadily increased.
Hard disk drive devices include a chassis or base for housing disk drive components. Several disk drive components, such as the hard disks and the read/write heads, should have an uncontaminated environment in which to operate. To avoid contamination, the chassis is designed with a minimum of openings to the external environment. However, most HDD devices have one or more openings in the chassis for pressure equalization purposes as well as to reach internal components during various stages of manufacturing, for a non-limiting example, to perform a servo track write process with the hard disks after the hard disks are installed within the chassis. Thus, HDD devices as well as manner other types of devices are configured with seals bonded over such openings, to prevent contamination from entering the HDD via the openings. Often, such seals are designed to be applied to the chassis with a press force.
One traditional approach to applying a seal to an HDD chassis involves pressing the seal with a press tool designed with a soft flat contact surface. One drawback to this approach is that the force applied to the HDD via this press tool is relatively large. Such a large applied force may result in a HDD quality problem if excessive force is applied at the HDA (Hard Drive Assembly) level, i.e., to the sealed chamber in which the internal components are housed. Furthermore, a separate tooling fixture is needed to implement this approach.
Another traditional approach to applying a seal to an HDD chassis involves rubbing the seal with a rubbing tool designed with a hard flat contact surface. One drawback to this approach is generation of high triboelectric charges resulting from friction involved with the rubbing process. This approach also experiences a relatively high contamination rate due to the rapid wear and tear on the rubbing tool, and its overall effectiveness leaves room for improvement.
Based at least on the foregoing, there is a need in the art for an improved tool and methodology for attaching a seal to a surface, generally, and to a HDD chassis, specifically.